About this property
Barton Hall, also known as the Cunningham Plantation, is an antebellum plantation house near present-day Cherokee, Alabama, United States. Built in 1840, it is a stylistically rare example of Greek Revival architecture in Alabama, with elements from the late Federal period. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973 for its architecture. Barton Hall is located in a rural setting about 4.0 miles (6.4 km) west of the town of Cherokee and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of United States Route 72. It is set on 4 acres (1.6 ha) of land, accessed via an elliptical drive from Cedar Lane. The house is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a clapboarded exterior, and a truncated hip roof topped by a belvedere. Single-story gable-roofed wings extend to the rear. The main facade is five bays wide, with a symmetrical arrangement of windows around the central entrance. The central bay is set off from the others by fluted pilasters, which also appear at the building corners. The entrance is sheltered by a deep porch supported by fluted Doric columns, and featuring Doric triglyphs in its cornice. The porch is topped by a balcony accessed via a second-story entrance stylistically similar to the main entrance below. The entrance is flanked by sidelight windows and topped by a transom window and eared architrave. Period interior features include a unique stairway which ascends in a series of double flights and bridge-like landings to an observatory on the rooftop that offered views of the plantation. In 1840, Armestead Barton, a native of Tennessee, moved to the area and purchased 40,000 acres (16,000 ha), on which he began construction of this house. The house remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1847 and was completed two years later under his widow's supervision. The property was sold out of the Barton family in 1908. In 1967, a Barton descendant repurchased the house. In November 2008, the noted photographer Charles Moore took his final documented images on this property. The home continues to be privately owned and occupied, and it is not open to the public. National Register of Historic Places listings in Colbert County, Alabama Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. AL-337, "Cunningham Plantation, Old Memphis Road (Gaines Trace Road), Cherokee, Colbert County, AL", 31 photos, 14 measured drawings, 3 photo caption pages
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Barton Hall listed on the National Register?
Barton Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1973.
What type of historic resource is Barton Hall?
Barton Hall is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
Is Barton Hall a National Historic Landmark?
Yes. Barton Hall has been designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL), the highest level of federal recognition for historic properties in the United States.
What is the period of significance for Barton Hall?
The period of significance for Barton Hall is recorded as the early_republic era, specifically around 1840.
Can I research the history near Barton Hall?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Barton Hall will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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